Aronian – Niemann 1.5-0.5

“It’s one of the biggest victories in my life, definitely the biggest when you count the prize fund,” said Aronian, who didn’t need a casino for his wonderful success in Sin City. “I am extremely happy and grateful for the opportunity.”

On the road to victory, Aronian first beat Carlsen in a playoff, then Nakamura and then Erigaisi. Today he was too strong for Niemann, whose chess had been quite impressive throughout the tournament — one would almost say that it spoke for itself.

“I was kind of relaxed,” said Aronian about going into the final against the 22-year-old American, whom he had jokingly called ‘the Professor’ earlier in the tournament. “You know, you make it to the final. It already doesn’t really matter. I mean, you had a successful tournaments so I was kind of relaxed and just wanted to play and enjoy.”

Aronian admitted that he was tired after what was only a five-day tournament but one with very long days. Perhaps that was why the final day did not see any tiebreaks; mistakes were made early on.

It was not just the long days that were tough, noted Aronian: “At the end of the day, Freestyle is much harder to play because you have to understand the position from a very early stage. So I think that’s the reason why everybody is tired.”

Aronian was probably busted at some point in his game with Niemann but as so often, he fought incredibly well and held the draw eventually. The tournament winner struck gold in the second when Niemann allowed him to build a nice pawn center and then chose a wrong square for his rook following a tactical sequence. Aronian did not hesitate, won an exchange and finished off with precision.

“I wanted some rehabilitation after my not so great results lately, so I wanted to show that I’m capable of fighting and capable of performing,” said Aronian, who more than rehabilitated himself: he reminded the chess world of his best days, in which he won two FIDE World Cups and became the fourth-highest rated player in history.

One reason behind his success was that he brought his family with him to Vegas. “My wife, my daughter and my whole family have been here every day with me and they’re the reason I find the strength to fight. They make me very happy and I am. I’m very grateful and it’s a privilege to be around them because they’re good people.”

Carlsen – Nakamura 1.5-0.5

Particularly in this match, between two chess giants of our era, the fans probably hoped for more than just two games, but it was over after two already. By winning, Carlsen secured third place, the maximum that was possible after not making the cut on the first day of play.

“Of course I had one really bad day and that cost me in the end, but winning five matches in a row, even if the stakes aren’t that high, feels really, really good,” said Carlsen. “It was a bit up and down of course but overall I’m fairly happy with my level in those few games and I felt like I finished off with a really nice win as Black as well so that that feels really, really good and it builds confidence for my next event.

After a draw in game one, Carlsen won that second game quite dominantly, outplaying Nakamura in the opening and getting an overwhelming advantage after just fifteen moves.

“Things weren’t obviously looking that rosy on Wednesday and I was pretty hard on myself then as well,” said Carlsen. “Winning the last few matches is always nice. I’m not going to win every tournament, of course, but I’m very happy with the way that I fought back so I will definitely take some positives from this tournament.”

On Aronian’s victory, Carlsen commented: “Yeah, it was incredibly impressive, very well deserved as well.” He noted that Aronian was particularly strong when fighting in difficult positions. “I’m very happy for Levon. He has been probably the biggest fan of Freestyle among the top players for many years. He’s still very good, but even in his most prime years, that was kind of his favorite mode of play. So to see him win, as long as I’m not winning, then I’m happy for him. And you know, there is always some consolation in having lost to the tournament winner and clearly, you know, the deserved one.”

Caruana – Erigaisi 2-0

Caruana seemed the have more energy that the day before, and it showed on the board. He took down the strong Indian Arjun twice, and took fifth place in the tournament. Here’s the second game, which finished with a petite combinaison:

Praggnanandhaa – So 1.5-0.5

Praggnanandhaa finished in seventh place thanks to a two-game victory over So. After winning three tournaments earlier this year and showing some pretty good chess, he wasn’t fully satisfied with where he finished. “Seventh doesn’t sound well but I feel I played much better than [where] I finished at the end. At these crucial moments I didn’t show show my best I guess. I should have won yesterday. I think I should learn to make some draws because I was not making them when I needed to.”

His win over So came in the second game, where the American grandmaster suffered a similar fate as against Nakamura where he just didn’t really get out of the opening. This time, the trouble was based on a long tactical line that just wasn’t good for Black. His rook got trapped so he lost an exchange, and Praggnanandhaa didn’t have trouble converting it.